Melbourne: French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget is proud to have six of his countrymen reach the third round of the Australian Open, but they have a mountain to climb to win the year's first grand slam.

World number six Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the leader of the Gallic pack at Melbourne Park, with Nicolas Mahut, Richard Gasquet, Michael Llodra, Gael Monfils and Juliean Benneteau joining him in search of a place in the last 16.

Forget, who reached the quarter-finals of the tournament twice as a player, said Tsonga was looking the strongest of the group but getting past the likes of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal was a major test.

"So far, Tsonga has been the most consistent French player. He's big, serves hard, and in the big matches he likes to go and get his wins," Forget told reporters on Friday.

"But when you get into the semis of a tournament like this one, and you play guys like Novak (Djokovic) or Andy Murray or Roger or Rafa, the mountain is so, so big to climb."

Forget flagged Britain's Murray as the player to watch this year and conceded it would be tough for Llodra to beat him in the third round on Saturday. In fact, all six French players are in Murray's half of the draw.

Murray has been something of a thorn in French sides, having lost only once in 25 matches to French players.

"It's not a French thing, Andy is a great player," Forget added. "Anyone who plays Andy knows that he has to play his best tennis to win. There's no shame in losing to somebody like Andy Murray."

Murray beat another Frenchman, Edourad Roger-Vasselin, in the second round and the match against Llodra could be one of the highlights of the tournament, said Forget.

Llodra has drawn comparisons with French great Henri Leconte and Forget can see the resemblance.

"To be honest, both of them are a little bit crazy, but they are wonderful players and they are wonderful people too," he added.

"I look forward to seeing the match between Andy and Michael because Michael is a flamboyant player, like Henri was in his prime, and against Murray we are going to see sparks on the court."